Music Q & A

Although many would lay the blame on Will Oldham, Smog's unflinchingly dour Bill Callaghan bears some responsibility for the rise in bedwetter pop via Sunny Day Real Estate, Modest Mouse and the UK's new masters of mope, Coldplay.

Unlike many of the artists Smog has inspired to new lows of sullenness, Callaghan has a sense of humour, however dark and twisted. You'd never get anything near as side-splitting from those Coldplay dullards as our boy Callaghan's Dress Sexy At My Funeral. But don't count on too many big laughs when Smog hit Lee's Palace Saturday (June 2)

Does it trouble you when your music is described as dry and humourless? It's a press cliche. People form an opinion of your music and they won't let go of it. If someone says that, I know they've just scraped the surface.

Do you recognize the humour in your own songs? Usually. It's never a conscious thing for me to put something funny in a song -- it just comes out that way.

Have any interpretations of your songs inspired a rethink? No.

What song do you wish you'd written? If it's a good song, I'm just happy that someone wrote it.

Since you don't have a real job, how do you spend your day? Finishing up my new record, Rain On Lens (due in September), and finding a band.

What have you done for fun lately? I spent a month in Turkey and Greece. While I was in a restaurant waiting to take a ferry between islands, there was a television news report. As I paid my bill and picked up my bags, someone informed me that the boat I was about to board had just sunk.